Means to capture bandits



June 24, 1924,

1,498,798 L. HOULE MEANS TO CAPTURE BANDITS Original Filed April 5, 19 2Sheets-Sheet. l

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Patented June 24, 192 v v UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

LOUIS HO'ULE, F MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

MEANS TO CAPTURE BANDITS.

Application filed. April 3, 1922, Serial No. 549,180. Renewed May 19,1924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS HOULE, a British subject, residing at 524: DeSt. Valier Street, in the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec,in the Dominion of Canada,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means to CaptureBandits; and I do hereby declare that the following is a true, clear,and exact description of the same. i

The present invention relates to improvements in an apparatus forcapturing bandits, and is hereinafter fully described and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view of aportion of a building, illustrating the interior of a bank provided witha device according to the invention. 7.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a portion of the ground floor of the bank.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of the electric conductors. I

Figure 4 is a view of a portion of the operating mechanism. 7

Figure 5 is an end view of the main drum disclosed in Figure 4. 7

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figure 1, 1 is a ceilingof a groundfloor banking room, 2 the floor thereof, and 2 the floor ofthe basement. The drawings preferably disclose the ground floor room asprovided with the usual counter 3 and wickets 4 and 5. As usual thecounter 3 is divided by a plurality of pillars 6, said pillarspreferably extending into the basement and each being provided along itsopposite sides with central longitudinal slots 7 in which slidably litthe adjacent edges of the panels 8 and 9. The panels 8 preferablyproject through the ground floor up to the counter, while the panels 9when they are in their normal position come flush with the ground floor2. These panels 8 and 9 may be of any suitable material, such as'steel,etc. The counter 3 is provided with a plurality of slots (not disclosedin the drawings) through which the panels 8 may slide. The ground flooris also provided with a plurality of slots through which the said panels8 and 9 will project. All of said panels 8 and 9 are preferably of thesame length and of the height from the ground floor 2 to the ceiling 1,and they are adapted to slide upwardly to the ceiling by a mechanismwhich is hereinafter described. It will readily be seen that when thepanels 8 and 9 slide upwardly, the space between the counter 3 and theceiling 1 and the ground floor 2 will be closed off by said panels, saidpanels forming an impenetrable wall which will protect the employeesbehind the counter and prevent the escape of anyone within the spaceclosed in by the panels.

The panels 8 and 9 are preferably oper ated by drum 1O suitably mountedin brackets 11, said drum 10 being located in any convenient place, heredisclosed in the basement below the ground floor. The drum 10 ispreferably loosely mounted on the shaft 12 which is journalled in thebrackets 11, and at each end of said drum 10 are provided the smallerdrums 13 which are rigidly mounted on said shaft 12, each of said drums13 being provided with'a lug 14: adapted to engage a slot 15 provided ateach end of said drum 10, whereby when said drums 13 are actuated by theshaft 12 an interval will take place before the rotation of the drum 10commences. This delayed rotation of the drum 10 is due to the fact thatwhereas the panels 8 which are operated by the drum 10 normally'projectto the level of the counter, as stated above, the panels 9 which areoperated by the drums 13 only extend to the ground-floor level. Hence,in order that all of the panels may reach the ceiling simultaneously, itis essential that the drums 13 start rotating before the drum 10, sincethe panels 9 .have a longer distance to travel than the panels 8. Thecables 16 are secured at one end to the drums 13, pass over the pulleys17 and are secured at the other end preferably to the lower ends of saidpanels 9. The cables 18 are secured at one end to the drum 10, pass overthe pulleys 19 and are securedat the other end preferably to the lowerends of the panels 8. Around said drum 10 winds a cable 20 which passesover the pulley 21 and is provided with a weight 22 to counter balancethe weight of the said panels 8 and 9. The drums 10 and 13 are actuatedby the gear 23'mounted on the shaft 12 which coacts with the gear 24mounted on the collar 25, said collar being slidable on the stub shaft26, which is suitably journalled in the brackets 27, said brackets beingpreferably secured to the ceiling of the basement or in any othersuitable place. On said collar which is keyed to the shaft 26 isprovided a circumferential recess 28 in which is adapted to engage theforked end of the lever 29 which is fulcrumed at 30, and has connectedto its free end one end of the cable 31, the latter passing over thepulleys 32 and secured at its other end to the drum 10. Intermediate ofsaid pulleys 32 is preferably provided a weight 33, and at the freeendof said forked lever 29 is provided a spiral spring 35 adapted tocarry said lever 29 to its normal position. On said shaft 26 is mountedthe pinion 35 which is suitably connected to the driving gear 36 of theelectric motor 37 by means oi the driving chain The electric motor 37 isstarted by means of the electric conductors 39 shown d-iagrammatica'llyin Figure 3, said electric conductors 39 preferably passing adjacent thecounter 3, and being provided at suitable intervals with the electricswitches 40, said switches being placed where they can readily bereached by any of the employees 01"- the bank. On turning said switches40, which may be of any suitable type, the motor 37 is started andactuates the shaft 26, the gears 23 and 24, the shaft 12 and drums 1'')and 13 mounted thereon. Immediately on rotating said drums 10 and 13 thecables 16 and 18 will wind respectively around said drums, thus liftingthe panels 8 and 9 into operative position. \Vhen the panels havereached the ceiling 1 the pull of the cable 31 which winds around thedrum 10 will obviously rock the lever 29 counterclockwise (Fig. 4L),thus pushing the gear 24 out or contact with the gear 23 andautomatically stopping the mechanism. To return the panels 8 and 9 totheir normal position the motor 37 should be reversed thus revolvingsaid drums l0 and 13 in the opposite direction. It is evident thatwithout departing from the spirit of the invention, any other suitablemechanism could: be used to operate said panels 8 and 9, and that themechanism herein described could obviously be considerably modified oraltered. In certain cases the said panels 8 and 9 could very well beactuated by'means of heavy weights (not disclosed in the drawings) whichwould pull the said panels into their operative position. When saidweights are released the said panels may be returned to their normalposition by hand, by means of the handle tl, illustrated in Figure 2 ofthe drawings.

Any number of panels 8 and 9 could be used and the said panels could bedisposed in many different ways according to the construction of thecounters or division of the building. In some cases it may not bedesirable to have the panels 8 project above the wickets provided in thecounter 3 and the panels 9 could be used to close the apertures suchwindows and doors of a building, thus locking in said building anyperson therein.

The main object of the present invention is to prevent anyone in thebuilding, or in any part of that building, from escaping tl'ierefrom.

hat I claim as my invention is:

1.111 a closure-operating system for buildings, the combination of avertical the closure member reaches a predetermined point in itsmovement.

2. In a closure-operating system for buildings, the combination of avertical guidewi'iy; a closure member slidable therein; a power drivefor the closure member, comprising a winding drum,- a cable connect-ionbetween the drum and said member, and driving means "for the drum; adevice for interrupting the operation of the drumdriving means; and acable leading from said drum to said device to auton'iatically actuatethe latter when the closure member reaches a predetermined point in itsmovement.

3. In a closure-operating system for buildings, the combination of aplurality of vertical guideways of equal height; a closure memberslidable in each guideway, certain of said members having longer distances to travel in their respective guideways than others; operatingmechanism for said members to raise them in their guideways; and meansfor retarding the movement of those members having the shorter distanceto travel, thereby to cause all of said members to reach the tops oftheir guideways at the same time.

4. In a closure operating system for buildings, the combination of aplurality of vertical guideways of equal height; a closure memberslidable in each guideway, certain. of said members having longerdistances to travel in their respective guideways than others; drivingmechanism for the members having the longer distance to travel; separatedriving mechanism. for the members having the shorter distance totravel; and a lost-motion transmission between the two drivingmechanisms to start the second-named mechanism after the firstnamedmechanism has commenced to operate, thereby to cause all of said membersto reach the tops of their guide-ways at the same time.

5. In a closure-operating system for lit) buildings, the combination ofa Vertical guideway; a closure member slidable therein; a power drivefor the closure member comprising a Winding drum, a cable connectionbetween the drum and the closure member, and driving means for saiddrum; and connecting means leading from the drum to the driving meansand positively operated by said drum during its rotation, forautomatically interrupting the operation of said driving means when theclosure member reaches a predetermined point in its movement.

6. In a closure-operating system for buildings, the combination of avertical guideway; a closure member slidable therein; a power drive forthe closure member comprising a Winding drum, a cable connection betweenthe drum and the closure member, and driving means for said drumincluding a pair of intermeshing gears; and connecting means leadingfrom the drum to one of said gears and positively operated by said drumduring its rotation, for automatically unmeshing that gear from theother gear when the closure member reaches a predetermined point in itsmovement.

7 In a closure-operating system for buildings, the combination of avertical guideway a closure member slidable there in; a power drive forthe closure member comprising a Winding drum, a cable connection betweenthe drum and the closure member, and driving means for said drumincluding a pair of intermeshing gears; a shifting fork associated withone gear to unmesh it from the other gear; and a connection leading fromthe drum to the shifting fork and positively operated by the formerduring its rotation, for automatically actuating said fork When theclosure member reaches a predetermined point in its movement.

Signed at Montreal, Quebec, 6th day of March, 1922.

LOUIS HOULE.

Canada, this Witnesses G. PATENAUDE, G. BEAUDOIN.

